Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Character Of Gavin Wilson, With Some Account Of His Inventions,
" P . S . Lately the Honourable Board of Trustees for Fisheries ,. ' Manufactories , and Improvements , in Scotland , honoured the inventor of legs and arms with a genteel premium on that account . " Were any farther testimony requisite to evince the hi gh utility of this deserving artist ' s contrivances , besides the approbation of the Patriotic Board which honoured his ingenuity by a premium , the of two of the most celebrated"
authority medical practitioners of the present age might be produced ; Dr Alexander Monro , present Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the University of Edinburgh ; and Mr . Benjamin Bell , author of the System of Surgery published at Edinburgh . Dr . Monroin his lectures for these thas annuallho
, many year pas , y - noured the memory of Gavin Wilson with a public encomium , as the inventor of the improved artificial arms and legs ; and Mr . Bell , in the ' 6 th volume of the work above mentioned , pays the following tributes to his merit : - . " . These . artificial legs and arms are preferable to any I have ever seen . The legwhen erlfitted equally useful with the *
, propy , proves common timber-leg , and is preferable for being neater ; at the same time that it is not liable to break , an accident to which the others are veiy liable ; and it answers better than a leg made of copper , from being considerably lighter , and not apt to be hurt in its shape by bruises . — They are so constructed as to be fixed on by means of straps , and hooksand buckles , in such a manner that the weight of the person ' s body
coes not rest on the stump of the amputated limb , but hangs quite free within the case of the artificial leg . This , in the most effectual man- ' Tier , prevents the pain and excoriation which otherwise would be apt ' to happen from the friction of the stump against the machine . ' When , a limb is amputated above the knee , a joint is formed in the artificial , limb at the knee . In walking , the limb is made steady by a steel bolt ,-running in two les the outside
stap on of the thigh , being pushed ^ - dawn ; and when the patient sits down , he renders the jointflexible by pulling the bolt up . This is easily done , and adds much to the utilityof the invention . Mr Wilson ' s artificial arms , besides being made of firm , hardened leather , are covered with white lambskin , so tinged asvery nearly to resemble the human skin . The nails are made of white horn
, tinged in such a manner as to be very near imitations of nature . The wrist-joint is a ball and socket , and answers all the purposes of flexion , extension , and rotation . The first joints' of the thumb and fingers are also balls and sockets made of hammered plate-brass , and . all : the -balls are hollow , to diminish their weight . Thesecondand third joints are similar to that which anatomists term Ginglimus , but they are fardifferent to admit of
. as any motion ,, whether flexion , extention , or lateral . The . fingers and metacarpus ( wrist ) are made up to the shape , With soft sham by leather and baked hair . In the palm : of the hand there is an iron screw , in which a screw nail is occasionally fastened . The head of this nail is a spring-plate , contrived in . such a manner as to hold aknife or fork , which it does with perfect firmness . And by . means of a brass ring fixed on the first and second fingers , a pen can
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Character Of Gavin Wilson, With Some Account Of His Inventions,
" P . S . Lately the Honourable Board of Trustees for Fisheries ,. ' Manufactories , and Improvements , in Scotland , honoured the inventor of legs and arms with a genteel premium on that account . " Were any farther testimony requisite to evince the hi gh utility of this deserving artist ' s contrivances , besides the approbation of the Patriotic Board which honoured his ingenuity by a premium , the of two of the most celebrated"
authority medical practitioners of the present age might be produced ; Dr Alexander Monro , present Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the University of Edinburgh ; and Mr . Benjamin Bell , author of the System of Surgery published at Edinburgh . Dr . Monroin his lectures for these thas annuallho
, many year pas , y - noured the memory of Gavin Wilson with a public encomium , as the inventor of the improved artificial arms and legs ; and Mr . Bell , in the ' 6 th volume of the work above mentioned , pays the following tributes to his merit : - . " . These . artificial legs and arms are preferable to any I have ever seen . The legwhen erlfitted equally useful with the *
, propy , proves common timber-leg , and is preferable for being neater ; at the same time that it is not liable to break , an accident to which the others are veiy liable ; and it answers better than a leg made of copper , from being considerably lighter , and not apt to be hurt in its shape by bruises . — They are so constructed as to be fixed on by means of straps , and hooksand buckles , in such a manner that the weight of the person ' s body
coes not rest on the stump of the amputated limb , but hangs quite free within the case of the artificial leg . This , in the most effectual man- ' Tier , prevents the pain and excoriation which otherwise would be apt ' to happen from the friction of the stump against the machine . ' When , a limb is amputated above the knee , a joint is formed in the artificial , limb at the knee . In walking , the limb is made steady by a steel bolt ,-running in two les the outside
stap on of the thigh , being pushed ^ - dawn ; and when the patient sits down , he renders the jointflexible by pulling the bolt up . This is easily done , and adds much to the utilityof the invention . Mr Wilson ' s artificial arms , besides being made of firm , hardened leather , are covered with white lambskin , so tinged asvery nearly to resemble the human skin . The nails are made of white horn
, tinged in such a manner as to be very near imitations of nature . The wrist-joint is a ball and socket , and answers all the purposes of flexion , extension , and rotation . The first joints' of the thumb and fingers are also balls and sockets made of hammered plate-brass , and . all : the -balls are hollow , to diminish their weight . Thesecondand third joints are similar to that which anatomists term Ginglimus , but they are fardifferent to admit of
. as any motion ,, whether flexion , extention , or lateral . The . fingers and metacarpus ( wrist ) are made up to the shape , With soft sham by leather and baked hair . In the palm : of the hand there is an iron screw , in which a screw nail is occasionally fastened . The head of this nail is a spring-plate , contrived in . such a manner as to hold aknife or fork , which it does with perfect firmness . And by . means of a brass ring fixed on the first and second fingers , a pen can